"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"Edmund Burke

Tabberone does not accept advertising or contributions for these pages. We like to support small local charities and non-profits where the focus in
on the recipient, not the organization bureaucracy. One of our favorites is a no-kill animal shelter in Divide, Colorado. On the internet at
www.tcrascolorado.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TCRAS .

There are a lot of on-line sales sites that are infringing upon trademarks and copyrights. Many sites openly sell "replicas", which by definition are infringing.
We do not endorse infringment. These pages are designed as a reference for those who are not infringing or those who are not sure that they are.
There is an increasing number of companies and corporate lawyers who are trying to exploit unknowing and unwilling infringers. Beware.

Visit Tabberone's Trademark & Copyright Abusers' Hall Of Shame where we list companies we feel are, or have been,
abusing the DMCA and the eBay VeRO Program with their police-state tactics. For a company to
get into the Hall Of Shame, it does not
have to get sued by us. All it has to do is shut down auctions, etc, in what we feel is a
violation of the rights of others, or actively promote false restrictions and/or make false claims concerning trademarks and/or copyrights.

You may have noticed that there are a lot of pundits who will tell you what you can and cannot do with
patterns,licensed fabrics,embroidery designs,
pictures, and descriptions,
but none can point you to specific court cases or federal law that supports their
claims. We can and we do. What we find particularly galling are the people who make claims such as "designers can put restrictions
on use if they want" and "I think if it is actually printed on the fabric, you should respect the copyright wishes of the designer"
without considering the legal ramifications. Once the item is sold why should someone be able to control what you do with it?
The First Sale Doctrine says they can't.
But, there are some logical restrictions. You cannot misrepresent the item when you resell it. We started these web pages in 2001 and we have
yet to have anyone provide us with court cases or federal law backing their false claims.

The First Sale Doctrine

"The whole point of the first sale doctrine is that once the copyright owner places a copyrighted item in the stream of commerce by
selling it, he has exhausted his exclusive statutory right to control its distribution."
Justice Stevens, delivering an opinion for a unanimous Supreme Court in the case QUALITY KING DISTRIBUTORS, INC. v.
L'ANZA RESEARCH INT'L, INC. (96-1470), 98 F.3d 1109, reversed.

There are a lot of companies out there who use questionable tactics to coerce people into doing what these companies want them to do.
While there are far too many people and companies infringing upon copyrights and trademarks, far too many rights holders have adopted
approaches that infringe upon the rights of the innocent. If one percent of the people put into jail were proven to be innocent,
the public would be outraged and demand some sort of corrective action. One study
has concluded that as much as thirty percent of eBay auction terminations are "questionable". Tabberone has been in federal court more than 15 times,
without a lawyer, to defend against "improper" eBay auction terminations and won the great majority of them.

eBay Snitch Program Is Unfair

eBay has long had a SNITCH program whereby "trusted sellers" could report questionable listings and without any further proof
eBay would remove the listings. The phrasing eBay now uses the phrasing that "Community members have expressed concern with the authenticity of
previous items" when someone reports listings. The problem with this policy is the seller has no recourse because eBay will not allow any appeal of
its actions regardless of proof. In many cases the "community member" is a competitor who wants the competing products removed but eBay does not care.
To make matters worse, eBay will not provide the identity of the "community member":

For privacy reasons, [eBay] can't disclose which members reported this issue.
We don't want discourage members from reporting perceived problems and
assist us in keeping our site clean, due to fear of retaliation.

This is an open-source board game based upon
the buying and selling experience on eBay.

Now, the required legal disclaimer. We are not lawyers and we have not stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.
The statements made here concerning legal rights and legal options are opinions, based upon lots of legal research and as a result of our encounters,
in and out of federal court, with lawyers representing corporations who have threatened us over trademark and
copyright issues. We strongly suggest you seek competent legal advice before attempting to do what we have done.
We did consult lawyers and we were told we did not have a chance. So we ignored the lawyers and represented ourselves. And we won 80% of the time.
End of disclaimer.

On August 1, 2001, we had three eBay auctions terminated by Warner Brothers. After some heated exchanges with
Warner Brothers' representatives, Warner Brothers backed off and agreed they had made a mistake. They
unconditionally re-instated our auctions on August 3rd. Since then, we have been the recipient of threats
and/or terminated auctions by M&M/Mars, Precious Moments, Disney Enterprises, Major League Baseball
Properties, Yates Racing, Vittoria North America, Shabby Chic, Wiggles, Bratz (MGA Entertainment),
United Media (Peanuts fabric), E! Entertainment Television, Frederick's of Hollywood, Sanrio (Hello Kitty fabric), Dunkin' Donuts, Debbie Mumm and more.

There are a lot of companies who are using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") and other similar tactics to interfere with
legitimate small internet businesses. Tabberone is not condoning or promoting trademark infringement or copyright
infringement but there are so many non-infringing businesses being caught up in the "infringement witch hunt"
being conducted by corporate lawyers who know better but use intimidation and fear to stop legitimate listings. In their aggressive and all encompassing efforts
to pretend to protect the trademarks and copyrights of their clients, these unethical corporate thugs in Armani
suits are deliberately misstating trademark and copyright law to coerce small home-based businesses into
submitting to their demands. We support these statements and others with facts.

Copyrighted material

In an effort to provide comprehensive information concerning a wide array of trademark and copyright topics, we have archived a number of web pages rather
than link to them. Sometimes web pages are moved or removed and then the link is no good and the information is lost. Archived pages usually have the
URL of origin showing the source. The reason people post information on their web sites is for others to read and learn from it. Their intention is for others to have
access to it. Many, including major publications, encourage copying, linking and emailing the information to others. By archiving this information, and referencing
the original source, we are assisting them in their original intention, which is informing the public. Putting this information in one location for reference also assists
those in need of specific data. We are not trying to claim we own these pages nor that we authored these pages. When possible the original copyrights are shown.

Someone has expressed concern that this copying violates the copyrights of the original owners. We disagree. The Colorado Court of Appeals has strongly
affirmed that web sites of this type are "protected speech" and therefore are afforded protection under the First Amendment. We
believe our non-commercial and informative use of properly referenced material meets the copyright guidelines for "fair use".

Latest Additions!

Buc-ee's

Buc-ee's, the Texas Interstate Bully who files frivolous lawsuits
against competitors. Buc-ee's and its idiot lawyers claim only Buc-ee;s has the right to use a cartoon figure to advertise convenience stores.
Their other numerous and false claims are just as stupid.
Added September 22, 2016.

Chesta Company and Precious Pets

Chesta Company, who proudly proclaims they are "Made In Red China" while
using the Red, White and Blue in their logo, shown upper left, and Precious Pets who has beautiful art work and a shitty attitude. It seems they do
not like buyers who complain about the quality of their not-American Made garden flags. We think Chesta Company should change its logo to the one
to upper right.
Added May 4, 2012.

Miche Bag

Miche Bag who likes to hit legitimate small sellers with law suits to force them to stop.
The corporate attorneys for Miche Bag dropped a large case after the federal judge ruled that the Defendant had "brought forth sufficient evidence
to call into question the validity of the [Miche] `201 Patent". We post two cases where the lawyers for Miche Bag are accused of
having "violated their ethical responsibilities to the Court" and "the misleading and duplicitous manner" in which they conducted themselves.
Added April 30, 2012.

Sense and Sensibility Patterns

Sense and Sensibility Patterns, who has banned Tabberone
from its "forums" for disagreeing with their misinformation divas about patterns and their use. Banned!
Added April 8, 2012
.

United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps, from the Halls of Montezuma to Tabberone's Trademark and
Copyright Abusers' Hall Of Shame. The USMC is here courtesy of their not so illustrious trademark counsel, Philip J. Greene,
U.S. Marine Corps Trademark Licensing Office, who is so full of shit his baby blue eyes are turning brown.
Added October 11, 2011.

For those with a need of direction. eBay's Verified Rights Owner ("VeRO") Program is abused and eBay does not care. These Commandments are the
result of our experiences in dealing with eBay and the abuses of the VeRO Program.

We are not lawyers but we have represented ourselves in federal court against multi-billion dollar companies
and won 80% of them. The content here is not presented as legal advice but as opinion and a result of what we have learned
in these battles and from extensive research.

Can you say "perjury"?
Merle Norman Cosmetics, whom we call Merle Nitwit, for telling eBay to terminate auctions of
their unopened cosmetics because Merle Norman claims the resale of these cosmetics violates FDA regulations and eBay's Drug & Drug Paraphernalia Policies.
Huh? This is a new, all-time low in Corporate lawyerly lying. Their law firm,
Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP, redefines slimy and low-life and is also a member of the Hall. We would list Merle Norman twice
if we could because they are that stupid, that perjurous, and that insensitive. Mothers, don't let your daughters grow up to use Merle Norman Cosmetics.
Added April 27, 2007

m3 girl designs and Missy Maddie Bradshw,
who at 13 years old is the youngest member of the Tabberone Trademark and Copyright Abusers Hall of Shame, and her idiot corporate lawyer,
D. Scott Hemingway. Maddie and her lawyer think she owns all rights to interchangeable magnetic jewelry which has been around since
before she was born. They are using federal court to drain the financial resources from their competition. But people are fighting back and we hope Maddie will
soon be a former millionaire.
Added September 26, 2009.

Continental Enterprises, a Cyber Cop who has earned its own
Hall of Shame entry because of their actions and the interest they generate. In our opinion, the lowest of the low. They entice companies into trademark infringement
and then threaten them with a federal lawsuit if the do not pay the extortion demand. It appears their only source of income is trademark extortion.
Their General Counsel, Darlene Seymour, has a section devoted just to her.
Added December 27, 2007

Embroidery Software Protection Coalition (ESPC), a group of embroidery companies, led by Bernina,
that are nothing more than thugs trolling the internet making people believe they have done something wrong and extorting money from them.
We consider Carole A. Faulkner, their in-house counsel, a liar, and the same for Martin Favre and
Donna McCaulry and anyone else who promotes and repeats the lies of the ESPC.
Added July 11, 2008

Vera Bradley , also known as Very Badley, who has a twisted notion of what they can
demand in the secondary market. Winner of the Tabberone WeSaySo Company Award with Dodo Cluster. Vera also seems to have some very
questionable business practices. Why are we surprised?
Added March 28, 2007

sHit Entertainment, who has been chewing on some lead-based paint of their own. They are shutting down auctions where
their licensed fabrics are being used. They need an "S" added to the beginning of their name. Stopping the legitimate use of their fabrics is more important than
quality control at the slave labor factories in China?
Added March 21, 2007

Cricut and Provo Craft were added April 10, 2010, to the
Hall Of Shame under the heading of Craft Sites who are listed because they are contributing to the distribution of misinformation
concerning copyright restrictions. really bad misinformation. Bad Cricut.

Sykel Enterprises, the business name of Fabrique Innovations, and is telling people they cannot resell
Sykel's fabric or items made from their fabric. We nominated their president, Sy Garfinkel for the Pompous Twit Of The Year Award for 2005,
with honorable mention going to twit-in-waiting, Jeff Ross and nitwit Howard Leibowitz. We think the company's logo should be
"The Cowardly Lion." They threatened to sue us for defamation if we did not remove them from this web site.
Added November 2005.

Love Potion Perfume, and the ditzy owner, Mara Fox, for telling the world they own the exclusive
rights to the commercial use of "love potion" and "love potion #9". Mara Fox appears to a number-one whack-job. She continues to claim she owns all
rights even after a federal court has ruled that she does not. Wacko, wacko, wacko.
Added February 29, 2008

Just Born & Marshmallow Peeps, who act like they just fell off the turnip truck in their ridiculous
trademark infringement claim concerning a baby crib set. We think they have too much sugar in their diet. They think they are the only ones in the world
who can use the word "peeps".
Added March 31, 2007

Karen and Mike, also known to you as Tabberone, have been actively participating in various troop support programs
for a number of years. An important one we have discovered and supported is one run by the
Green Beans Coffee Company of Larkspur, California. The Green Beans Coffee Company runs coffee
houses in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Middle East and at other US military bases around the world. Your donations are
converted into email chits that are randomly given to military personal who are based near these coffee houses. You
are then sent an email by Green Beans Coffee telling at what location your donation(s) was distributed. The military
recipient of your donation is also given the opportunity to email you a thank you with a message, which many of them do.

Modern military deployment has changed very much since WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Back then there was no internet
or cell phones. A soldier very rarely could call home or even go home on leave. But modern deployment does not alter
the dangers they face. Green Beans Coffee is one of the little pleasures they can enjoy. Any donation makes a service
man or service woman smile. We contribute every month.